Director of the UK Data Archive, Professor Matthew Woollard, has
stressed the need for social science researchers to cite data properly,
so the impact of any research can be fully evaluated.
His comments come after he was recently named as a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences,
a position awarded each year to people who are leading figures in their
field and who have made a substantial contribution to the social
sciences.
Professor Woollard, who is also director of the UK Data
Service, has led the organisation for 11 years and has been instrumental
in overseeing the provision of long-term access to data and research
within the social sciences.
The Academy of Social Sciences
is the national academy of academics, learned societies and
practitioners in the social sciences. Its mission is to promote social
science in the United Kingdom for the public benefit.
Speaking of
the award, Matthew said: “I’m pleased that the Academy of Social
Sciences recognises the importance of data sharing as contributing to
research in the social sciences in the UK. The social sciences attack
problems within society and the economy but research of all types needs
to have solid, quality data to underpin it, and those data need to be
managed and curated to be fully usable. We’ve been doing the right thing
to ensure the data has integrity and that research can be validated and
replicated.”
He added: “I’m especially proud of the UK Data Service’s continued work to improve the citation of data
and the appropriate referencing of digital object identifiers (DOI) for
citing data. Poor citation is still an issue in the sector – full and
correct citation is important as it acknowledges the creators of data
and allows people to better evaluate the impact of any research.”
The UK Data Service promotes good citation practices and recently ran the #CiteTheData campaign, with the aim of promoting the benefits of data citation. We offer a free online Citation Campaign toolkit for anyone needing to promote the importance of citing data correctly. Further information and guidance is available on our Cite the data web page.